Nick Carraway says: “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Fitzgerald 170). Nick makes this observation about his family in the novel “The Great Gatsby” by F.Scott Fitzgerald. In the spring of 1922, Nick moves to West Egg and meets a mysterious man named Jay Gatsby; there he witnesses Gatsby longing for a life with Daisy Buchanan and failing to achieve the American dream. Tom and Daisy initially show their carelessness by deciding to marry each other when neither of them were fully committed. Their thoughtless behavior carries on through their marriage as they both partake in affairs and emotionally torture their partners. When the Buchanans show their next act of carelessness it results in the death of three people. In “The Great Gatsby”, Tom and Daisy continually show how careless they are and there are many repercussions to their actions. Tom and Daisy Buchanan originally show how careless they are by deciding to get married and having love play a very small role in the decision. Daisy’s love for Jay Gatsby is undeniable, but as he spent many years away from her, the pressure to do something with her life grew. She grew tired of waiting for Gatsby to return from the war and: “She wanted her life shaped now, immediately – and the decision must be made by some force” (Fitzgerald 144). Daisy felt a burden to get married and the feeling of loneliness from Gatsby’s absence gave Tom the opportunity to come into her life. She was careless in her decision to get married and similarly, Tom was careless in his decision ... ... middle of paper ... ...ne he shows no remorse. He is responsible for their deaths and he refuses to own up to it. Tom and Daisy’s carelessness cause the deaths of three people and they both do not hold themselves accountable. With many consequences to their careless actions, Tom and Daisy from “The Great Gatsby” don’t understand the enormity of their wrong doings. Their decision to marry each other was one of the first careless acts that they perform together. Later on in their marriage they both have affairs and carelessly, without thought, lead their partners on and play with their emotions. The thoughtless and reckless behavior continues on and ultimately results in the death of Jay Gatsby, Myrtle Wilson and George Wilson. It seems that the only people who get caught in the aftermath of Tom and Daisy’s careless actions are innocent bystanders, and never them, themselves.
Despite lacking recognition when it was first published, The Great Gatsby--by F. Scott Fitzgerald--is now regarded as both a literary classic and a great American novel. While well known for its use of symbolism, The Great Gatsby uses other literary techniques to an effective degree. One of the several techniques Fitzgerald used was one of creating mirrors between scenes. A good example of this is how chapter eight is a dark mirror to chapter two; several events that occur in chapter two appear again in chapter eight; however, when they appear again they do with a dark twist to signal the different tone the story has taken. By comparing how Gatsby, the advertisement of Doctor T.J. Eckleberg, and the theme-- the uninhibited pursuit of wealth
Themes of hope, success, and wealth overpower The Great Gatsby, leaving the reader with a new way to look at the roaring twenties, showing that not everything was good in this era. F. Scott Fitzgerald creates the characters in this book to live and recreate past memories and relationships. This was evident with Gatsby and Daisy’s relationship, Tom and Daisy’s struggling marriage, and Gatsby expecting so much of Daisy and wanting her to be the person she once was. The theme of this novel is to acknowledge the past, but do not recreate and live in the past because then you will not be living in the present, taking advantage of new opportunities.
Thesis: How does F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, compares the American Dream in today's generation and back in the 1920's-30's? What did the American Dream really mean and why? So why did this issue happen? Do you think America can change in the future? What is the american dream really about? When did the phrase: ‘american dream’ started? Have you ever wondered what the 20s and 30s were like back then? How can this so called dream ever bring hope to our country? These are all the questions I would like to know myself. I’ve found three online sources & one source from the novel that can help explain about the 20th century, the Gatsby novel, today's generation, and about Mr.Gatsby from the book.
...but it seems like Gatsby has assumed the fault of Tom. George not only believes Jay ran over his wife, but also kills Gatsby thinking that Gatsby had an affair with Myrtle. So, it is justiciable to blame Tom for his irresponsibility for Gatsby’s death.
Tom has a high social status which displays irresponsibility and carelessness in The Great Gatsby. Nick says, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made” (191). As Nick explains, Tom Buchanan lives a careless lifestyle which shows through the way he destroys Gatsby’s life. Like Jordan and Daisy, Tom only cares about his own well-being. Tom says, “‘I told him the truth,’ he said. [. . .] He was crazy enough to kill me if I hadn’t told him who owned the car. His hand was on a revolver in his pocket every minute’” (190-191). Readers can probably suggest that Tom does not tell the truth because it’s the right thing to do; he tells Mr. Wilson the truth to save himself from getting hurt. Tom’s actions also lead to him destroying Gatsby’s life. Like most of the characters in The Great Gatsby, Tom Buchanan reckless lifestyle implies that he is a reckless driver as
“I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy — they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made… I shook hands with him; it seemed silly not to, for I felt suddenly as though I were talking to a child” (187-188).
Tom and Daisy have had an unhealthy relationship in their time together. Tom and Daisy over their time together have constantly been cheating on each other, even from their wedding day. F. Scott Fitzgerald portrays Tom and Daisy’s marriage as very unhealthy in The Great Gatsby. The story also presents a deep respect for understanding intellectual empathy by showing many sides of the characters stories. Tom and Daisy’s marriage has much to do with the plot and ultimately leads to Gatsby’s death. The Great Gatsby portrays the relationships in many different angles that help with intellectual empathy.
As you read on, Daisy’s true character is slowly revealed, and you come to achieve that she is a very careless person. She seems to never care about the consequences of her actions, and this is proven when she is driving home from the city, and hits Myrtle with Gatsby’s car. Unlike most other people, she didn’t even hesitate and just drove home, without a care in the world about what she had done. One of Nick Caraway’s final assessments of Daisy after the accident is that she is very careless. He even says; “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy – They smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back to their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made”. (Fitzgerald 187) This quote is proof that people i...
Tom suspects that Gatsby and Daisy are having a relationship, but has no evidence to prove it. However, whenever Tom would leave the room, Daisy would immediately run into Gatsby’s arms to show her affection. To their dismay, Tom sees this: “She had told him that she loved him, and Tom Buchanan saw” (Fitzgerald 126). This leads to a confrontation between Gatsby and Tom, where Gatsby boldly declares that “Your wife [Daisy] doesn’t love you …She’s never loved you. She loves me” (Fitzgerald 139). Gatsby feels untouchable, and his confidence in Daisy’s love for him allows him to declare this to Tom. However, Tom slowly gains control of Daisy, reminding her of the experiences they shared together. Realizing this, Gatsby becomes desperate, and attempts to force Daisy into saying things she doesn’t believe, but Daisy tells Gatsby the truth: “’Even alone I can’t say I never loved Tom… It wouldn’t be true’” (Fitzgerald 142). Gatsby is delusional because his only thought is proving to Tom that Daisy doesn’t love him, and fails to realize that he is slowly losing Daisy. He is once again so absorbed by Daisy that he fails to realize what is going on around him. Even after Daisy runs over a woman murdering her in cold blood, Gatsby is willing to take the blame for her, and states “of course I’ll say [to the police] I was [driving]” (Fitzgerard 154). Gatsby still loves Daisy after she commits murder, which is a testament to his obsession and delusion over her. Gatsby is willing to go to prison and lose everything because Gatsby still believes that Daisy loves him despite Tom proving
For example, “...Tom Buchanan and his girl and I went up together to New York...for Mrs.Wilson sat discreetly in another car” (26). Even though Tom is close to Myrtle, he knows how detrimental it would be to his reputation if one of his rich friends saw him with Mrytle, so he makes her sit in another car. Likewise, Tom realizes the recklessness in his choices he is doing because it is both bad for himself, if someone in the “secret” society finds out he has a mistress. Also, it is bad for Daisy because she is getting cheated on without even knowing. Along with Gatsby and Tom, Daisy also commits reckless behavior when she does not go to Gatsby’s funeral. All his life, Gatsby acquired wealth and a huge mansion on the Long Island Sound right across from Daisy’s house, just to impress Daisy. He even hosted extravagant parties to attract Daisy to his house. After Daisy decides she does not want to go to Gatsby 's funeral, Nick Carraway concludes, “They were careless people, Tom and Daisy--they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast
After a traumatic, horrible event takes place, there are often further issues as to who will take the blame for it or who will sacrifice themselves for the blame. After an automobile hits and kills Myrtle Wilson in The Great Gatsby, her husband George is ravenous in his attempts to find her murderer. Although it is clear that Daisy Buchanan drove the car that killed Myrtle, George shoots Gatsby due to the fact that Tom Buchanan leads him into thinking Gatsby is the driver. When Nick Carraway confronts Tom about this, Tom nonchalantly replies, “I told [George] the truth,” (Fitzgerald, 2000) indicating full well that he knew George would get rid of Gatsby. Instead of taking responsibility for the calamity and saving Gatsby (whom Daisy supposedly “loves”), Tom and Daisy act out of self-interest and “retreat back into their money… and let other people clean up the mess they had made…” (Fitzgerald, 2000.) On the o...
Their choices led to the death of Myrtle, Gatsby and Wilson. Myrtle wouldn 't have died if Tom didn 't cheat on Daisy. Tom 's choice to stray from his wife caused Myrtle to run out into the road because she thought Jordan was Tom 's wife so she ran to stop the car. The car was actually being driven by Daisy who was accompanied by Gatsby. This accident also put Daisy at fault because if she hadn’t of cheated as well, her and Tom never would have had the argument about her love for Gatsby. This would have prevented the accident altogether. Tom was also at fault for telling Wilson who the owner of the car was which was Gatsby. Although Gatsby wasn 't the one driving, he ended up with the blame for it. Wilson wasn 't in the right mindset and went to Gatsby 's house and shot him. Gatsby was found floating in the pool on an air mattress looking up at the sky. Wilson was found not too far away on the grass. All of these deaths were a result of Tom and Daisy not thinking through the choices they made, knowing that they had their money to fall back on if anything were to ever go
"I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.” (188).
As an American citizen we seem to make presumption that all cultures are different from ours, and some might even call those cultures weird. Americans fail to realize just how similar we are to these “weird” cultures. By reading Things Fall Apart, by Chinua Achebe and The Great Gatsby by F.Scott Fitzgerald , it makes the reader realize how similar the African culture is from the American culture. There 's those obvious differences we already knew about with the two cultures, but readers can learn that not just American culture value men and give them advantages, but many cultures including 1900 's African culture. In both books we come across two main characters that is portrayed as being more superior compared to others. Okonkwo, main
The Roaring Twenties is considered to be a time of excessive celebration and immense corruption. The novel, The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald is a criticism of American society and its values during this era of history. This criticism is first apparent in the people who go to Gatsby's parties. They get absurdly drunk, do not know who their host is and are rude by excessively gossiping about him. This commentary is also shown in the corruption of the police. Gatsby is able to pay off the police so that the activities going on at his home will go unnoticed and so that he may behave as he wishes. This criticism is finally shown in the corruption of friendship and love, the simple fact being that there is none. People use Gatsby and then throw him away. Fitzgerald's criticism of American society and its values during this time period is first shown in the behaviour of people at Gatsby's parties.